Bobbin release for weft replenishing looms



Dec. 1, 1936.

A. A. GORDO N, 313.. ET AL BOBBIN RELEASE FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed Dec. 24, 1934 2 sheets-sheet 1 Q nuento rs [Ubert (L.

.VI'IIIIIIIIIIA ZIIIIIIIIIIIIII/ Gordon, 3rd.

Harry m. Latham attorneys Dec. 1, 1936.

A. A. GORDON. 30.. ET A1. 2,062,708 BOBBIN RELEASE FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed Dec. 24, 1954 2 Shgets-Sheet 2 Sno'entors (Dbert 0.. Benton 3rd Harry m. Laiham Patented Dec. 1, 1936 UNITED STATES BOBBIN RELEASE FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Albert A. Gordon, 3d, Shrewsbury, and Harry M.

Latham, Worcester, Mass, assignors to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 24, 1934, Serial No. 758,876

16 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in bobbin releases such as those employed in multicolor weft replenishing looms and it is the general object of the invention to provide means for quickly and efficiently releasing a bobbin which is called for but not transferred so that it will fall correctly from the magazine without likelihood of resultant damage to either the magazine, lay or bobbin.

Most weft replenishing mechanisms of the multicolor type employ a weft detector on the magazine end of the loom located so as to be in the path of the released bobbin. The detector supporting bracket ordinarily lies in front of the butt end of the bobbin and should the latter fall first as has been the practice hereto-fore the bobbin in pivoting over the detector is likely to fall between the advancing lay and the detector bracket.

That part of the space beyond the detector which is under the magazine is ordinarily unoccupied and if the bobbin could be manipulated so that it could be directed into this space there would be little or no chance for breakage. By releasing the V tip end first that part of the bobbin starts down 5 in advance of the bobbin butt and upon striking the detector swings over into the aforesaid unoccupied space to fall freely without resultant damage. It is an important object of our invention to release the tip end of the bobbin in advance of the butt end for the reasons just stated.

This early release of the bobbin tip may be effected in part as set forth hereinafter by reason of the fact that the bobbin butt will ordinarily be of larger diameter than the tip and the butt support extends under the butt an amount greater than that by which the tip support extends under the tip. As a result, the latter moves out of bobbin supporting position'before the butt support and the effect of this relation is to cause the tip of the bobbin to start down slightly in advance of-the butt.

The early tip release may be caused also in part at least by the fact that the butt support can be made to move rearwardly along substantially a horizontal line while the tip support pivots downwardly instead of moving horizontally. In this way the tip support moves down in the direction the tip must fall, whereas the butt support has no appreciable down motion, and these conditions 50 further insure proper early release of the tip.

We do not wish to be restricted, however, to the form of tip release shown herein.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, our invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of our invention is set forth.

Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section taken through a magazine having our invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation taken in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a View similar to a portion of Fig. 1 but showing the parts in'bobbin releasing position,

Fig. 4 is a detailed plan view in the direction of arrow 4, Fig. 1,

' Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on line 55 of Fig. 2 showing the bobbin butt support in' two positions, and p Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic View showing the relation between a bobbin in transfer position and its supports, together with the weft detector and its mounting. 20

Referring to the drawings, the loomside l0 supports a magazine M on which is pivotally mounted a transferrer arm II. The magazine has vertical parallel reserve bobbin stacks I 2, l3, l4, and 7 l5, respectively, which are defined in part by vertical webs l6, and provision not shown herein is made for delivering the bottom bobbin from a selected compartment when filling ex haustion occurs in the corresponding active shuttle. A normally raised shuttle feeler-F is ordinarily lowered preparatoryto a transfer as shown in Fig. 5 and carries a stud [1. Front supports l8 and I9 may be provided for the bobbin butt and tip, respectively.

The rear bobbin butt holder indicated particularly in Fig. 5, comprises a downwardly and for-. wardly inclined support 20 pivoted as at 2| to a link 22 movable about a tie rod 23 forming part of the magazine. A coil spring 24, see Fig. 2, is operative to move and yieldingly hold the link 40 and holder 29 forwardly in bobbin receiving position when the stud I! is down, but ordinarily this stud is raised and holds the forward end 25 of the support 20 far enough behind the support l8 to permit a bobbin W to fall from the magazine.

A second link 26 is pivoted as at 21 to'a fixed part of the magazine and is slotted to receive a stud 28 in the upturned rear end 29 of holder 20. A spring 30 is interposed between the holder 20 and a finger 3| on the link and acts to hold the link 26 and'stud 28 yieldingly together. A stop screw 32 in link 22 engages a' fixed part 33 of the magazine to limit forward motion of support 20 under action of spring 24.

For a further understanding of the operation and structure of the rear butt support reference may be had to Ryon Patent No. 1,366,950. It is considered sufiicient for purposes of the present description to state that when the holder is in the forward position shown in full lines in Fig. 5, it will be placed to hold in transfer position the butt of the bobbin which is moved from one or another of the compartments of the magazine. The effect of the links 22 and 26 is to move the front end 25 rearwardly along substantially a horizontal line.

The rear bobbin tip support may be in the form of a coil spring 40 clamped by a screw 4| to a holder 42 having a hub 43 swinging about the tie rod 23. Collars 45 and 46 are fastened to the rod on opposite sides of the hub and limit motion of the holder 42 along the tie rod, but the hub is otherwise free on the rod.

Except for the free or loose pivotal mounting for the spring finger or support 40 the latter may be substantially the same as set forth in the King Patent No. 1,724,286. It will be noticed that the forward end 49 of the tip support 40 is considerably in advance of the tie rod and when turning in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3 moves along a path having a considerable downward component as distinguished from the substantially horizontal motion of the forward end 25 of the butt support.

In order to cause both supports and 46 to move substantially together, we thread a rod 60 into link 22 and hold it in position by a lock nut 5|, see Fig. 2. This rod extends through an opening 62 in the holder 42 and may have a loose fit therewith, if desired, although it is suflicient if the connection between the rod and holder 42 be such that both bobbin supports 20 and 40 move together.

It should be noticed that the forward end. 49

of the rear bobbin tip support 40 engages the relatively small bobbin tip end T and extends under it a short distance. In this connection it will be seen that the end of the rear bobbin butt support extends under the butt by an amount somewhat greater than the amount by which the end 49 extends under the bobbin tip T. This relation is due in part to the fact that the butt diameter is larger than the tip diameter.

In operation, when the magazine is in normal position with the shuttle feeler up the stud I1 is raised so that the forward ends 25 and 49 of the butt and tip supports, respectively, are in rear position and incapable of supporting a bobbin. When a transfer is called the shuttle feeler drops and stud I1 descends to some such a position as that shown in Fig. 1, whereupon spring 24 will move the holder 20, rod 60, holder 42, and tip support 40 forwardly to bobbin supporting position. By means not shown herein but well known a bobbin W will fall to the position shown in Fig. 1 and if a proper transfer is to follow the transfer arm H will be depressed to push the bobbin into the shuttle S carried by the reciproeating lay L. If the shuttle should not be properly boxed, however, the transfer will be revoked, whereupon the stud I! will be raised to move the parts to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5 and transfer will be prevented. When rising the stud moves along cam surface 35 to move the link 22 rearwardly and the rear supports move back to release the revoked bobbin.

The structure set forth hereinbefore operates in two different ways to effect release of the bobbin tip in advance of the butt. Part of this result is due to the fact that the forward end 49 of the tip support reaches a point spaced from front tip support equal to the tip diameter before the butt can pass between its supports. The second condition operating to effect prior release of the bobbin tip grows out of the fact that the tip support has a substantial downward compoment in the direction in which the bobbin must fall, whereas the butt support moves rearwardly with little or no appreciable down component.

The result of these two conditions when used jointly is to effect release of the bobbin tip substantially in advance of the time of release for the bobbin butt. While this general result has been set forth hereinbefore as attained through the joint use of two different relations, yet it will be understood that each of these conditions operating alone will eifect the desired result and we do not wish to be limited necessarily to the conjoint use of the type of tip support shown herein together with the fact that reliance is had upon the difference in diameter between the bobbin tip and butt, or that the tip support projects under its end of the bobbin by an amount less than that of the butt support.

Reference to Fig. 6 would show the reason for releasing the tip in advance of the butt. The detector D is mounted on a bracket 90 connected to the loomside in front of and below the butt of a bobbin ready for transfer, while the space under the magazine and to the right of the detector is ordinarily unoccupied. A detector finger 15 extends under the bobbin W in transfer position, and in one particular relation in which our invention has been used the center of gravity of the full bobbin lies along line 8il8l and. over the detector finger. For this reason it is desirable that the tip end shall acquire a momentum before the butt end in order that the bobbin may pivot over the feeler and move to the right as viewed in Fig. .6. We do not wish of course to be held to the relation of the detector finger and center of gravity of the bobbin shown, inasmuch as various conditions of loom fixing call for different settings and adjustments of the detector, but it should be noted that when released as described the tip end acquires a greater momentum than the butt and therefore directs the bobbin t0 the right into the empty space to the right of the detector.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have provided means for releasing the tip end of the bobbin in advance of the butt end. As set forth hereinbefore this result is efiectively achieved by the combination of two relations each of which may exist independently of the other, but which when used together produce an improved result. One of these relations is due to the fact that the bobbin tip support releases its end of the bobbin before the butt end is released and the other is due to the fact that the tip support has a downward component substantially in excess of that of the butt support.

In copending application Serial No. 758,878 filed by Bergstrom and Palmer there is shown and claimed a specific form of bobbin release wherein anactuator is given a positive movement to withdraw first the tip support and thereafter the butt support. The broad claims to this feature are presented in our present application.

Having thus described our invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and we do not wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what we claim is:

- 1. In a weft replenishing loom operating with reserve bobbins, support means to hold the butt and tip'of a reserve bobbin in transfer position, a weft'detector located under a bobbin in transfer position and means to operate the support means to cause the latter to-release the tip prior to releasing the. butt, thereby causing the tip to be lower than the butt when the released bobbin falls on the detector.

2. In a weft replenishing loom operating with reserve bobbins, supports to hold the butt and tip ends of a bobbin in transfer position, a weft detector located under a bobbin in transfer position and means to move said supports out of bobbin supporting position in such order as to release the tip of the bobbin before releasing the butt of the bobbin, thereby causing the tip to be lower than the butt when the released bobbin falls on the detector.

3. In a weft replenishing loom operating with reserve bobbins, a bobbin butt support movable to bobbin releasing position, a bobbin tip support also movable to bobbin releasing position, said supports to hold a bobbin in transfer position, a weft detector located under a bobbin in transfer position, and means to move the tip support to bobbin releasing position while the butt support is still in supporting position, thereby causing the tip to be lower than the butt when the released bobbin falls on the detector.

4. In a weft replenishing loom operating with reserve bobbins, means to support the butt and tip ends of a reserve bobbin in transfer position, a shuttle feeler to revoke transfer, and means operated by the shuttle feeler to cause the first named means to release the tip end of the bobbin and thereafter to release the butt end of the bobbin.

5. In a weft replenishing loom operating with reserve bobbins, a yieldable support projecting under the butt of a reserve bobbin in transfer position by a given amount, a yieldable support 7 for the tip of the bobbin extending under the tip by an amount less than said given amount, and means to move said supports together toward bobbin releasing position, whereby the tip of the bobbin is released before the butt of the bobbin is released.

6. In a weft replenishing loom operating with reserve bobbins the butt diameter of which is larger than the tip diameter, a support for the butt of the bobbin to hold the latter in transfer position, a second support for the tip of the bobbin to hold the latter in transfer position, means to cause said supports to move together toward bobbin releasing position, said supports constructed and operated by the means in such a way as to move the second named support out of supporting relation with respect to the tip of the bobbin before the first named support moves out of supporting relation with respect to the butt of the bobbin.

7. In a weft replenishing loom, support means to hold the butt and tip of a bobbin in transfer position, a weft detector located under a bobbin in transfer position and means operative subsequent to the revocation of a transfer which leaves the bobbin in transfer position to operate the support means in such a way as to effect release of the bobbin tip prior to the releasing of the bobbin butt, thereby causing the tip to be lower than the butt when the released bobbin falls on the detector.

8. Ina weft replenishing loom, a support to hold the butt of a reserve bobbin in transfer position, a second support to hold the tipof a reserve bobbin also in transfer position, a weft detector located under the bobbin in transfer position, and means constructed and operated to move the supports so that the tip end of the bobbin when moving toward the detector will be in advance of the butt end to cause the bobbin when striking the detector to move to the side of the latter adjacent the tip end of the bobbin.

9. In a weft replenishing loom, a support to hold the butt of a reserve bobbin in transfer position, a second support to hold the tip of a reserve bobbin also in transfer position, a weft detector located under a bobbin in transfer position to be struck by the latter when falling, and means to move the second named support toreleasing position so that the bobbin during falling and when striking the detector will have the tip end lower than the butt end and be deflected to that side of the detector adjacent the tip end of the bobbin.

10. In a weft replenishing loom having a reserve bobbin to be in transfer position, a pair of supports to hold the bobbin butt and tip in transfer position, a weft detector located under a bobbin in transfer position, and means to cause I said supports to effect release of the bobbin tip prior to release of the bobbin butt, thereby causing the tip to be lower than the butt when the released bobbin falls on the detector.

11. In a weft replenishing loom, a support to hold the butt of a bobbin in transfer position,

means to cause said support when moving rearthe tip end of the bobbin at a rate faster than the downward motion of the butt end of the bobbin.

12. In a weft replenishing loom, a support with the butt of the bobbin in transfer position movable rearwardly along a substantially horizontal line, and a support for the tip of the bobbin in transfer position operatively connected tothe first support and movable rearwardly and downwardly with the first named support to effect downward movement of the tip end of the bobbin faster than downward movement of the butt end of the bobbin.

13. In a weft replenishing loom, a support for the butt of a bobbin in transfer position, a support for the tip of the bobbin, a connector causing said supports to move together, and means to cause the tip support to move down at a faster rate than the butt support moves down.

14. In a weft replenishing mechanism operating with reserve bobbins, a bobbin butt support, a bobbin tip support, said supports to hold a bobbin in transfer position, a weft detector located under a bobbin in transfer position, means to cause the supports to move to bobbin releasing position, and means to cause the tip support to reach releasing position before the butt support reaches such position. thereby causing the tip to be lower than the butt when the released bobbin falls on the detector.

15. In a weft replenishing mechanism having reserve bobbins, a pair of links movable about different centers, a bobbin butt support floated on and pivotally connected to the links and movable to bobbin releasing position along a given path, and a bobbin tip support operatively connected to the butt support and movable about a center and having a movement which is downward relatively to said path when moving toward bobbin releasing position.

16. In a weft replenishing loom, a bobbin butt support, a link on which the support is mounted, means constituting a pivot for the link, a bobbin tip support operatively connected to the butt support and. movable pivotally about the means, a shuttle feeler causing the supports to move together, and means operatively related to the bobbin butt support to cause the latter to reach butt releasing position after the tip support has released the tip of the bobbin.

. ALBERT A. GORDON, 3RD

HARRY M LA'I'HAM. 

